Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar – better known as Salim-Javed, were celebrated movie writers who penned several hits such as Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewar, Don, Shaan, and more. Despite delivering 20 out of 24 hits between 1971 and 1987, the duo parted ways in 1982. While a 3-part documentary recently released talking about the ups and downs of Salim-Javed, Khan during a recent chat once more opened up about the split.
During the same conversation, Salim Khan also shared that he believes Amitabh Bachchan could have stopped the split. Read on to know all he said.
During a recent interview with NDTV, Salim Khan recalled the time Javed Akhtar told him that he wanted to split. Talking about Salim-Javed parting ways, the veteran writer said, “Jab unhone mujhse kaha ki mei alag (films) banana chahta huun, maine kaha thik hai, koi dikkat nahi. Kisiko zabardasti rok nahi sakte. Mujhe toh abhi bhi nahi malum kyun alag hue. Ho gaya toh ho gaya. (When he informed me that he wanted to work separately, I said okay, no problem. You can’t force someone to stay. Even now, I don’t know why we separated. It just happened.)”
Salman Khan’s father continued, “Kyun alag hue yeh bhi kisiko pith piche nahi bataye, uska zikar hi nahi kiya. Milna-julna tha, baat karte the, unke ghar ke samne se hi nikalta thha mai, roz walk karta thha, hath hilata tha woh bhi haath hilate thhe. Joh rishta hai joh dosti hai woh thha. (We didn’t tell anyone the reason behind why we separated – even behind each other’s backs. We used to meet, and talk, and whenever I would pass by his house we would wave at one another. The friendship is still there).”
In the same conversation, Salim Khan claimed that only Amitabh Bachchan could have stopped their split. The actor-writer said, “Lekin mei agar hota unki (Amitabh Bachchan) jagah… unko (Javed Akhtar) yehi raye deta, ‘Maat chodo accha khasa tumhari ek jodi hai, kaam kar raahe ho accha khasa chal raha kahe ke liye isko chodhte ho?’ Mai hota toh yeh karta. (But if I were in Amitabh Bachchan’s place, I would have given him (Javed) this advice – Don’t leave, you have a great partnership, you’re doing well, everything’s going fine, why would you want to end this? If it were me, I would have done that.)”
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